Aethelhere of East Anglia
Encyclopedia
Æthelhere was King of East Anglia from 653 or 654 until his death. Æthelhere was a member of the ruling Wuffingas dynasty and was one of three sons of Eni
to rule East Anglia as Christian kings. He was a nephew of Rædwald, who was the first of the Wuffingas of which more than a name is known.
Rædwald and his son Eorpwald
both ruled as pagans before being converted to Christianity
. After Eorpwald's murder in around 627, the East Angles briefly reverted to heathenism, before Christianity was re-established by Sigeberht
. After Sigeberht abdicated in favour of his co-ruler Ecgric, the East Angles were defeated in battle by the Mercians led by their king Penda
, during which both Ecgric and Sigeberht were slain. In 651, the monks at Cnobheresburg were driven out by Penda and Ecgric's successor Anna
was forced into temporarily exile. Penda attacked East Anglia again in 653 and at the Battle of Bulcamp, Anna and his son were slain and the East Anglian army was defeated. Æthelhere then became king, possibly ruling jointly with his surviving brother, Æthelwold
. During Æthelhere's brief reign, it is known that Botolph's monastery at Iken
was built.
In 655, Æthelhere was one of thirty noble warlords who joined with Penda in an invasion of Northumbria
, laying siege to Oswiu
and the much smaller Northumbrian army. The battle was fought on November 15, 655, near the Winwæd, an unidentified river, where the Northumbrians were victorious and many of the Mercians and their allies were killed or drowned. In the battle, Penda and nearly all his warlords, including Æthelhere, were killed.
, Mercia
and Wessex
, little reliable evidence about the Kingdom of the East Angles has survived, as a result of the destruction of the kingdom’s monasteries and the disappearance of the two East Anglian sees
that occurred as the result of Viking
raids and settlement. The primary source for information about Æthelhere's life and brief reign is the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
(Ecclesiastical History of the English People), completed in Northumbria by Bede
in 731.
was settled by a North Germanic group known as the Angles
, although there is evidence of early settlement of the region by a minority of other peoples, for instance the Swabia
ns, who settled in the area around the modern town of Swaffham
. By 600, a number of kingdoms had begun to form in the territories of southern Britain conquered by the Angles, Saxons
, Jutes
and Frisians
. The ruling dynasty of East Anglia was the Wuffingas, named from Wuffa
, an early king. The first king known to have ruled is Rædwald, whose reign spanned a quarter of a century from about 599.
Æthelhere was probably the second of the sons of Eni, the brother of Rædwald. Four sons are certainly known: Æthilric, the father of Ealdwulf
, Anna, Æthelhere and Æthelwold, his successor. The brothers all appear to have been firmly committed to Christian rule: Æthilric married the Christian Hereswith, the great-niece of Edwin of Northumbria
. Anna is described by Bede as almost a saintly figure and the father of a most religious family, who brought about the conversion of Cenwalh of Wessex
, and Æthelwold was the sponsor of Swithelm of Essex
during his baptism.
Æthelhere witnessed the fortunes of his dynasty during the years of Rædwald's rule and afterwards. The East Angles under Rædwald had been converted to Christianity, but in around 627, during the reign of his son Eorpwald, they reverted to heathenism. This occurred after Eorpwald was killed by a pagan soon after his succession and baptism. The assassin, Ricberht, may then have ruled the kingdom for a few years, to be succeeded by Sigeberht, who re-established Christianity in the kingdom and became the first East Anglian king to act as a patron of the Church.
Ecgric's successor, Anna, acted as a challenge to the increasing power of Penda throughout his reign. In 645, after Cenwalh of Wessex had renounced his wife, who was Penda's sister, Penda drove him from his kingdom and into exile. Anna was strong enough to offer protection to Cenwalh when he sought refuge at the East Anglian court: whilst there he was converted to Christianity, returning in 648 to rule Wessex as a Christian king. Anna probably provided military support for Cenwalh's return to his throne.
During the late 640s, the Irish monk Fursey
, having spent a year as a hermit, left East Anglia for Gaul
. His monastery at Cnobheresburg (identified by some with Burgh Castle) was left in the hands of his half-brother, Foillan
. In 651, shortly after his departure, the heathen threat he had foreseen became a reality, when Foillan and his community were driven out by Penda's forces and Anna, who encountered Penda at Cnobheresburg, was exiled.
in Suffolk), where Anna and his son were slain and the East Anglian army was slaughtered in large numbers. Æthelhere then succeeded his brother as Penda's client-king, although Barbara Yorke
has suggested that Æthelhere and his surviving brother Æthelwold may have reigned jointly, as Bede separately refers to both men as Anna's successor.
Æthelhere's short reign, during which Brigilsus
remained bishop of the see
of Dommoc
, witnessed the construction of Botolph's monastery at Iken. The site lay within the sphere of Rendlesham and Sutton Hoo
. Æthelhere would have arranged his brother's funeral, whose reputed burial-site was at Blythburgh.
. Oswiu offered him a great ransom of treasure which, according to Bede, was refused (or according to the Historia Brittonum, was accepted and distributed) — in either case Penda resolved on battle and the destruction of the Northumbrians. Oswiu had a much smaller force, but in the event the Welsh armies of King Cadfæl of Gwynedd
decamped on the eve of battle and Penda's ally Œthelwald of Deira stood aside to await the outcome.
The "major setpiece battle", according to Barbara Yorke, was fought on November 15, 655, on the banks of the River Winwæd, the location of which has not been identified. The waters of the Winwæd were in spate owing to heavy rains and had flooded the land. The Northumbrians were victorious, the Mercian forces were slaughtered and many of them drowned in flight. Penda himself was killed, together with nearly all his allies, including Æthelhere of East Anglia, who was leading the East Anglian part of the forces ranged against Oswiu:
Although the passage from Bede suggests that Æthelhere was the cause of the war—auctor ipse belli—it has been argued that an issue of punctuation in later manuscripts confused Bede's meaning on this point, and that he in fact meant to refer to Penda as being responsible for the war. According to the 12th century Historia Anglorum, the deaths of five Anglo-Saxon kings was avenged:
Eni of East Anglia
Eni or Ennius was a member of the Wuffing family, the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of East Anglia. He was the son of Tyttla and brother of Raedwald, both kings of East Anglia.There is no historical evidence that Eni ever ruled the East Angles himself...
to rule East Anglia as Christian kings. He was a nephew of Rædwald, who was the first of the Wuffingas of which more than a name is known.
Rædwald and his son Eorpwald
Eorpwald of East Anglia
Eorpwald; also Erpenwald or Earpwald, , succeeded his father Rædwald as ruler of the independent Kingdom of the East Angles...
both ruled as pagans before being converted to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. After Eorpwald's murder in around 627, the East Angles briefly reverted to heathenism, before Christianity was re-established by Sigeberht
Sigeberht of East Anglia
Sigeberht of East Anglia , was a saint and a king of East Anglia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. He was the first English king to receive a Christian baptism and education before his succession and the first to abdicate in order to enter...
. After Sigeberht abdicated in favour of his co-ruler Ecgric, the East Angles were defeated in battle by the Mercians led by their king Penda
Penda of Mercia
Penda was a 7th-century King of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. A pagan at a time when Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda took over the Severn Valley in 628 following the Battle of Cirencester before participating in the...
, during which both Ecgric and Sigeberht were slain. In 651, the monks at Cnobheresburg were driven out by Penda and Ecgric's successor Anna
Anna of East Anglia
Anna was King of East Anglia from the early 640s until his death. Anna was a member of the Wuffingas family, the ruling dynasty of the East Angles. He was one of the three sons of Eni who ruled East Anglia, succeeding some time after Ecgric was killed in battle by Penda of Mercia...
was forced into temporarily exile. Penda attacked East Anglia again in 653 and at the Battle of Bulcamp, Anna and his son were slain and the East Anglian army was defeated. Æthelhere then became king, possibly ruling jointly with his surviving brother, Æthelwold
Æthelwold of East Anglia
Æthelwold, also known as Æthelwald or Æþelwald , was a 7th century king of East Anglia, the long-lived Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. He was a member of the Wuffingas dynasty, which ruled East Anglia from their regio at Rendlesham...
. During Æthelhere's brief reign, it is known that Botolph's monastery at Iken
Iken
Iken is a small village and civil parish in the marshlands of the English county of Suffolk.It is near the estuary of the River Alde on the North Sea coast and is located south east of Snape and due north of Orford....
was built.
In 655, Æthelhere was one of thirty noble warlords who joined with Penda in an invasion of Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
, laying siege to Oswiu
Oswiu of Northumbria
Oswiu , also known as Oswy or Oswig , was a King of Bernicia. His father, Æthelfrith of Bernicia, was killed in battle, fighting against Rædwald, King of the East Angles and Edwin of Deira at the River Idle in 616...
and the much smaller Northumbrian army. The battle was fought on November 15, 655, near the Winwæd, an unidentified river, where the Northumbrians were victorious and many of the Mercians and their allies were killed or drowned. In the battle, Penda and nearly all his warlords, including Æthelhere, were killed.
Sources
In contrast with the kingdoms of NorthumbriaNorthumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
, Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
and Wessex
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
, little reliable evidence about the Kingdom of the East Angles has survived, as a result of the destruction of the kingdom’s monasteries and the disappearance of the two East Anglian sees
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
that occurred as the result of Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
raids and settlement. The primary source for information about Æthelhere's life and brief reign is the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
The Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum is a work in Latin by Bede on the history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between Roman and Celtic Christianity.It is considered to be one of the most important original references on...
(Ecclesiastical History of the English People), completed in Northumbria by Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
in 731.
Background
After the end of Roman rule in Britain, the region now known as East AngliaEast Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
was settled by a North Germanic group known as the Angles
Angles
The Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
, although there is evidence of early settlement of the region by a minority of other peoples, for instance the Swabia
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
ns, who settled in the area around the modern town of Swaffham
Swaffham
Swaffham is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The town is situated east of King's Lynn and west of Norwich.The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 6,935 in 3,130 households...
. By 600, a number of kingdoms had begun to form in the territories of southern Britain conquered by the Angles, Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
, Jutes
Jutes
The Jutes, Iuti, or Iutæ were a Germanic people who, according to Bede, were one of the three most powerful Germanic peoples of their time, the other two being the Saxons and the Angles...
and Frisians
Frisians
The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia, that was a part of Denmark until 1864. They inhabit an area known as Frisia...
. The ruling dynasty of East Anglia was the Wuffingas, named from Wuffa
Wuffa of East Anglia
Wuffa is supposed to have ruled the East Angles from c. 571 to c. 578. East Anglia was a long-lived Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk....
, an early king. The first king known to have ruled is Rædwald, whose reign spanned a quarter of a century from about 599.
Æthelhere was probably the second of the sons of Eni, the brother of Rædwald. Four sons are certainly known: Æthilric, the father of Ealdwulf
Ealdwulf of East Anglia
Ealdwulf or Aldwulf was an obscure King of East Anglia who reigned from 663 to around 713.Ealdwulf's reign of forty-nine years was extraordinary in length: only Ethelbald of Mercia's and Offa of Mercia's reigns are comparable...
, Anna, Æthelhere and Æthelwold, his successor. The brothers all appear to have been firmly committed to Christian rule: Æthilric married the Christian Hereswith, the great-niece of Edwin of Northumbria
Edwin of Northumbria
Edwin , also known as Eadwine or Æduini, was the King of Deira and Bernicia – which later became known as Northumbria – from about 616 until his death. He converted to Christianity and was baptised in 627; after he fell at the Battle of Hatfield Chase, he was venerated as a saint.Edwin was the son...
. Anna is described by Bede as almost a saintly figure and the father of a most religious family, who brought about the conversion of Cenwalh of Wessex
Cenwalh of Wessex
Cenwalh, also Cenwealh or Coenwalh, was King of Wessex from c. 643 to c. 645 and from c. 648 unto his death, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in c. 672.-Penda and Anna:...
, and Æthelwold was the sponsor of Swithelm of Essex
Swithelm of Essex
Swithelm was King of Essex from 660 to 664.Swithelm succeeded King Sigeberht II after he, along with his brother Swithfrith, murdered him. They accused him of being too friendly toward Christians. In 662, however, he was persuaded to convert to Christianity by Aethelwald, king of East Anglia. ...
during his baptism.
Æthelhere witnessed the fortunes of his dynasty during the years of Rædwald's rule and afterwards. The East Angles under Rædwald had been converted to Christianity, but in around 627, during the reign of his son Eorpwald, they reverted to heathenism. This occurred after Eorpwald was killed by a pagan soon after his succession and baptism. The assassin, Ricberht, may then have ruled the kingdom for a few years, to be succeeded by Sigeberht, who re-established Christianity in the kingdom and became the first East Anglian king to act as a patron of the Church.
Mercian destabilisation of the East Angles
Sigeberht abdicated in favour of his co-ruler Ecgric and retired to lead a monastic life, but soon afterwards the East Angles were attacked by Mercian forces, led by their king, Penda. Ecgric and his army appealed to Sigeberht to lead them into battle against the Mercians, but he refused to participate. He was dragged from his monastery to the battlefield, where, still refusing to bear arms or fight, he and Ecgric were slain and the defeated East Anglian army was destroyed.Ecgric's successor, Anna, acted as a challenge to the increasing power of Penda throughout his reign. In 645, after Cenwalh of Wessex had renounced his wife, who was Penda's sister, Penda drove him from his kingdom and into exile. Anna was strong enough to offer protection to Cenwalh when he sought refuge at the East Anglian court: whilst there he was converted to Christianity, returning in 648 to rule Wessex as a Christian king. Anna probably provided military support for Cenwalh's return to his throne.
During the late 640s, the Irish monk Fursey
Saint Fursey
Saint Fursey was an Irish monk who did much to establish Christianity throughout the British Isles and particularly in East Anglia...
, having spent a year as a hermit, left East Anglia for Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
. His monastery at Cnobheresburg (identified by some with Burgh Castle) was left in the hands of his half-brother, Foillan
Foillan
Saint Foillan is an Irish saint of the seventh century.- Family :Foillan was the brother of Saints Ultan and Fursey. He is described as the 'uterine brother' of Fursey, meaning that they had the same mother but not the same father...
. In 651, shortly after his departure, the heathen threat he had foreseen became a reality, when Foillan and his community were driven out by Penda's forces and Anna, who encountered Penda at Cnobheresburg, was exiled.
Reign
In 653 or early 654, after Anna had returned from exile, Penda was able to direct a military assault upon the East Angles. The Mercian and East Anglian armies fought at Bulcamp (near BlythburghBlythburgh
Blythburgh is a small English village in an area known as the Sandlings, part of the Suffolk heritage coast. Located close to an area of flooded marshland and mud-flats, in 2007 its population was estimated to be 300. Blythburgh is best known for its church, Holy Trinity, internationally known as...
in Suffolk), where Anna and his son were slain and the East Anglian army was slaughtered in large numbers. Æthelhere then succeeded his brother as Penda's client-king, although Barbara Yorke
Barbara Yorke
Barbara Yorke is a historian of Anglo-Saxon England.She studied history and archaeology at Exeter University, where she completed both her undergraduate degree and her Ph.D. She is currently Professor of Early Medieval History at the University of Winchester, and is a Fellow of the Royal...
has suggested that Æthelhere and his surviving brother Æthelwold may have reigned jointly, as Bede separately refers to both men as Anna's successor.
Æthelhere's short reign, during which Brigilsus
Brigilsus
Brigilsus was a medieval Bishop of the East Angles.He was consecrated between 652 and 653. He died about 669 or 670. He was consecrated by Archbishop Honorius of Canterbury.-See also:...
remained bishop of the see
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
of Dommoc
Dommoc
Dommoc, a place not certainly identified but probably within the modern county of Suffolk, was the original seat of the Anglo-Saxon bishops of the Kingdom of East Anglia. It was established by Sigeberht of East Anglia for Saint Felix in c. 629–31 It remained the bishopric of all East Anglia...
, witnessed the construction of Botolph's monastery at Iken. The site lay within the sphere of Rendlesham and Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo, near to Woodbridge, in the English county of Suffolk, is the site of two 6th and early 7th century cemeteries. One contained an undisturbed ship burial including a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artefacts of outstanding art-historical and archaeological significance, now held in the British...
. Æthelhere would have arranged his brother's funeral, whose reputed burial-site was at Blythburgh.
Battle of the Winwæd
During 655, Æthelhere joined with Penda in an assault on Northumbria. Steven Plunkett asserts that Æthelhere's motive for changing sides was to deflect Penda's attention from East Anglia and the destruction of his kingdom that would have ensued. Penda invaded Northumbria with a force of thirty duces regii (or royal commanders) under his command that included a large contingent of Britons. He laid siege to Oswiu at Maes Gai, in the district of Loidis, which was probably at that time within the sphere of influence of the British kingdom of RhegedRheged
Rheged is described in poetic sources as one of the kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd , the Brythonic-speaking region of what is now northern England and southern Scotland, during the Early Middle Ages...
. Oswiu offered him a great ransom of treasure which, according to Bede, was refused (or according to the Historia Brittonum, was accepted and distributed) — in either case Penda resolved on battle and the destruction of the Northumbrians. Oswiu had a much smaller force, but in the event the Welsh armies of King Cadfæl of Gwynedd
Kingdom of Gwynedd
Gwynedd was one petty kingdom of several Welsh successor states which emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages, and later evolved into a principality during the High Middle Ages. It was based on the former Brythonic tribal lands of the Ordovices, Gangani, and the...
decamped on the eve of battle and Penda's ally Œthelwald of Deira stood aside to await the outcome.
The "major setpiece battle", according to Barbara Yorke, was fought on November 15, 655, on the banks of the River Winwæd, the location of which has not been identified. The waters of the Winwæd were in spate owing to heavy rains and had flooded the land. The Northumbrians were victorious, the Mercian forces were slaughtered and many of them drowned in flight. Penda himself was killed, together with nearly all his allies, including Æthelhere of East Anglia, who was leading the East Anglian part of the forces ranged against Oswiu:
Although the passage from Bede suggests that Æthelhere was the cause of the war—auctor ipse belli—it has been argued that an issue of punctuation in later manuscripts confused Bede's meaning on this point, and that he in fact meant to refer to Penda as being responsible for the war. According to the 12th century Historia Anglorum, the deaths of five Anglo-Saxon kings was avenged: